Posts Tagged as‘team building’

A quick thesaurus search relates the word "fun" to "good", "happy" and "lively". Antonyms include "bad", "sad", and interestingly, "work".

I think that everyone would agree that a work environment characterized as bad and sad won’t be productive, except in the sense that a chain gang of prison workers might be productive if the chain boss is liberal in his use of his whip, and as long as the prisoners don’t rise up in rebellion.

On the other hand, a work environment characterized as good, happy and lively is a positive environment that should lead to productivity. Happy workers in a lively environment are a good combination. (That’s probably why my company had "Taco Bar Lunch" last Friday and why boss brought a bunch of Nerf guns into the office. Unless he is revealing a repressed desire to be a maniacal serial killer, but I don’t think so.)

Does this relate to CRM systems? Sure. Let me explain...

Do you use things that you hate? My dad has a treadmill at home, but he hates it and it collects dust. When I owned a 350Z sports car, I drove it even when I didn’t need to get anywhere – just because driving it was fun.

Employees are told that they must use their company’s CRM system, and they may even understand that they need to use it. The question is to what degree they use it. If it is onerous and simply not fun, they will use it minimally. If the tool is actually fun (or "good" as the thesaurus says), they will use it enthusiastically – more often and more fully – and the entire organization will benefit.

Over the weekend, I was sitting in my kitchen, working on my first cup of java. Like many other sales professionals, I was thinking about the close of Q1 and already forward-thinking to my execution strategy going into Q2. I was also thinking about my team, the constant buzz and the never-ending positive vibe that seems to continue to grow hourly within the CampaignerCRM sales organization. I started to really drill into what the cause of the buzz was: was it the fun, start-up environment that we have (though we have been in business since 2004)? Was it the mesh of personalities that just click when stirred up together in a giant pot? Was it the re-architected sales environment that I just put in place? Ultimately, yes is the answer to all of them – and across all employees, not just my sales team. But there are a few more intangibles:

The Bell Trifecta - We have a set of three actual bells that we ring harmoniously with the size of the deal that comes in. Yes, it's a bit old hat, but the high 5's and “hell yeahs” that echo down the hallway when they ring not only gives the feel of accomplishment across all business functions, but reminds us we have encouraged another customer to take another step in building out a world-class sales organization. And, for what it's worth, even our engineers get excited at the sound because they know the sale was a direct result of the kickass product that they have built and continue to aggressively evolve.

Sales Cartoons - We blew up to poster size a bunch of sales cartoons from FunnySalesCartoons.com that make us all chuckle no matter how many times we walk by. There is some truth in many of them, highlighting funny situations that a lot of us have lived through at one time or another.

Inter-departmental Camaraderie - Our team seems to get along fantastically and it's something that happens on a daily basis. We tell Finance to let go of the "sales prevention" mentality and constantly remind the Engineering organization to continue to deliver us a rock-solid product. Even our "Say NO to bugs" wall art inspires, as it stares them in the face while they feverishly develop new code every day.

The Team Without Titles - It doesn't matter if you're the CEO, CMO, SVP Sales, SVP Finance, or Office Manager – everyone roles up their sleeves and plays the position the team most needs them in.

"Socialist Sandwich Day" - The company buys lunch for all of the employees once or twice a week.

Where am I going with all of this you ask?

My point is that as much as I wanted to pinpoint one thing that makes CampaignerCRM buzz, I couldn't. It is the commitment of our employees and the desire to show up every day to push, continually motivate and encourage all of us in making LandslidCRM in what it is today. Our buzz is contagious and when you catch it – great things happen no matter what the time investment.

As I locked up my office the other night and started to head out, one of the new reps on my team grabbed me and said "Eric, I love the environment here so much that I often find extra tasks to complete before I head home for the night." I thought about this for a minute as I was walking out for the evening. You can't buy that attitude anywhere.

The bottom line: Put some thought into your company culture and environment. Would your employees put forth the extra effort because they feel appreciated and respected? Do you have an environment that breeds excitement and buzz?

I would love to hear from others on what they do to create a positive and buzz-enabled corporate culture.